Exclusive: Former Shell oil trading boss Muller joins Vitol

The world`s largest independent oil trading house Vitol is hiring Mike Muller, the former head of crude oil trading at Royal Dutch Shell and once one of Vitol`s biggest rivals, a source familiar with the matter said.

Muller left Shell in November after 29 years at the company and will be joining Vitol`s business development division to find new oil supplies and buyers.

Over the past decade Vitol has grown into the world`s largest independent trader, handling as much as 7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and products, equivalent to 7 percent of global supply.

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Vitol is seen as one of the largest crude traders in the North Sea, which sets the Brent global benchmark that helps to price half of the world`s crude oil.

Shell is also a very large player in Brent and handles more than 10 percent of global oil and products overall.

A Vitol spokeswoman declined to comment. Muller could not be reached for comment.

Muller expanded trading aggressively at Shell, handling as much as 8 million bpd of crude. He was replaced by Mark Quartermain after a reshuffle of Shell`s downstream and trading divisions.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)